What are the top 10 AAP Centers in FCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure that would necessarily be the rule in all cases. There are other reasons why people might opt for LLIV over an AAP center. For example, if you have LLIV, you don't get transportation.

We have LLIV at our base school and we have transportation to our AAP Center.

My DC is in an AAP Center, but our base school doesn't have LLIV. If they did, I might have been inclined to keep DC there. I have kids in 2 different elementary schools now and it's hard to manage as a FT WOHM.

I only have two kids but they are in two different schools (base elementary school and elementary AAP Center) and I am also a FT WOHM and I'm managing. I'm sure it must be harder with three or more kids, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chesterbrook and spring hill are both local level iv programs. They have very good reputations, but are not "magnet" centers which pull kids from other schools. Children who are gt center eligible and are in-boundary for either school can choose to attend the aap center that draws from several schools, to stay at their base school and attend the local level iv program there, or to defer eligibility for gt services and stay in their regular classrooms. Many other schools also have local level iv programs of varying size. All centers and local level iv programs can be found using tabs in that link in one of the early posts in this thread.

Sounds to me that if a school offers Local IV but is not a magnet program and refers to it as GT is serving up a watered down version. I'd stick with the real GT center.

In most cases I'd agree with this, but perhaps not with these two schools. I think they have enough center- eligible kids that elect to stay at the local level iv to run very strong local level iv programs that may be comparable to the centers.

[Anonymous]

All AAP Centers provide transportation. There may be other reasons parents opt for LLIV, but transportation is provided to all the AAP Centers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure that would necessarily be the rule in all cases. There are other reasons why people might opt for LLIV over an AAP center. For example, if you have LLIV, you don't get transportation.

We have LLIV at our base school and we have transportation to our AAP Center.

My DC is in an AAP Center, but our base school doesn't have LLIV. If they did, I might have been inclined to keep DC there. I have kids in 2 different elementary schools now and it's hard to manage as a FT WOHM.

I only have two kids but they are in two different schools (base elementary school and elementary AAP Center) and I am also a FT WOHM and I'm managing. I'm sure it must be harder with three or more kids, though.

OK, Super Mom. We bow to thee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chesterbrook and spring hill are both local level iv programs. They have very good reputations, but are not "magnet" centers which pull kids from other schools. Children who are gt center eligible and are in-boundary for either school can choose to attend the aap center that draws from several schools, to stay at their base school and attend the local level iv program there, or to defer eligibility for gt services and stay in their regular classrooms. Many other schools also have local level iv programs of varying size. All centers and local level iv programs can be found using tabs in that link in one of the early posts in this thread.

Sounds to me that if a school offers Local IV but is not a magnet program and refers to it as GT is serving up a watered down version. I'd stick with the real GT center.

In most cases I'd agree with this, but perhaps not with these two schools. I think they have enough center- eligible kids that elect to stay at the local level iv to run very strong local level iv programs that may be comparable to the centers.

If the quality at these two schools are the same as a GT center, then it seems to me to be a waste of money and resources with staffing these two schools with GT teachers to support a smaller class size while the other real GT centers are bursting at the seams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure that would necessarily be the rule in all cases. There are other reasons why people might opt for LLIV over an AAP center. For example, if you have LLIV, you don't get transportation.

We have LLIV at our base school and we have transportation to our AAP Center.

My DC is in an AAP Center, but our base school doesn't have LLIV. If they did, I might have been inclined to keep DC there. I have kids in 2 different elementary schools now and it's hard to manage as a FT WOHM.

I only have two kids but they are in two different schools (base elementary school and elementary AAP Center) and I am also a FT WOHM and I'm managing. I'm sure it must be harder with three or more kids, though.

OK, Super Mom. We bow to thee.

Yeah, supermom should probably keep the kryptonite away from dad so he can help out some too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All AAP Centers provide transportation. There may be other reasons parents opt for LLIV, but transportation is provided to all the AAP Centers.

Chesterbrook and Spring Hill aren't considered "centers" though as students from other schools do not go to these two schools for GT services.

[Anonymous]

22:30, I know those aren't Centers. I'm not sure what you were getting at. But I was responding to this:

I'm not sure that would necessarily be the rule in all cases. There are other reasons why people might opt for LLIV over an AAP center. For example, if you have LLIV, you don't get transportation. For some, that's a deal breaker. Some kids have very strong friendships in their base school, etc.

If your school has LLIV, you DO get transportation. You either get transportation to your base school where LLIV is offered, or you get transportation to the Center because all the Centers have transportation. The quoted text makes no sense. It is not the case that if your base school offers LLIV, you don't qualify for transportation to the Center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But I was responding to this:

I'm not sure that would necessarily be the rule in all cases. There are other reasons why people might opt for LLIV over an AAP center. For example, if you have LLIV, you don't get transportation. For some, that's a deal breaker. Some kids have very strong friendships in their base school, etc.

If your school has LLIV, you DO get transportation. You either get transportation to your base school where LLIV is offered, or you get transportation to the Center because all the Centers have transportation. The quoted text makes no sense. It is not the case that if your base school offers LLIV, you don't qualify for transportation to the Center.

Exactly. Students that are found Center-eligible can opt for the Center or the LLIV option (if it exists at the base school). Transportation is provided to the Center for all students, including for those that have LLIV at the base school.

[Anonymous]

I think Chesterbrook and Spring Hill are a little unique in having enough center eligible kids to be able to support more than one LLIV class per grade (at least most years). Some of the smaller centers don't have that many kids. So you really need to look at your specific school and specific center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Chesterbrook and spring hill are both local level iv programs. They have very good reputations, but are not "magnet" centers which pull kids from other schools. Children who are gt center eligible and are in-boundary for either school can choose to attend the aap center that draws from several schools, to stay at their base school and attend the local level iv program there, or to defer eligibility for gt services and stay in their regular classrooms. Many other schools also have local level iv programs of varying size. All centers and local level iv programs can be found using tabs in that link in one of the early posts in this thread.

Sounds to me that if a school offers Local IV but is not a magnet program and refers to it as GT is serving up a watered down version. I'd stick with the real GT center.

In most cases I'd agree with this, but perhaps not with these two schools. I think they have enough center- eligible kids that elect to stay at the local level iv to run very strong local level iv programs that may be comparable to the centers.

If the quality at these two schools are the same as a GT center, then it seems to me to be a waste of money and resources with staffing these two schools with GT teachers to support a smaller class size while the other real GT centers are bursting at the seams.

The local level IV progams at these schools don't have smaller class sizes. They have huge class sizes, as do some GT centers. However, Haycock is very overcrowded, Chesterbrook is not, and the Chesterbrook LLIV option is excellent, so many Chesterbrook families choose to stay at Chesterbrook's LLIV program instead of moving to overcrowded Haycock. Churchill Road and Spring Hill are both slightly overcrowded, with big class sizes. As someone stated, Spring Hill's LLIV program is populated mostly, if not entirely, by center eligible kids and parents seem very happy with the quality. The class sizes there are also very large.

[Anonymous]

the better ones are probably at schools that aren't full of chip-eaters.
I don't know why the county puts a GT program in an otherwise marginal/underperforming school.
We wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near DC's current school if it wasn't the local GT center. I would have gone to the neighbohood school if it had a Level IV program but it does not. What with the long bus ride and association with all the chip eaters, it's a close call whether it's worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:the better ones are probably at schools that aren't full of chip-eaters.
I don't know why the county puts a GT program in an otherwise marginal/underperforming school.
We wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near DC's current school if it wasn't the local GT center. I would have gone to the neighbohood school if it had a Level IV program but it does not. What with the long bus ride and association with all the chip eaters, it's a close call whether it's worth it.

The county puts the GT program there for two reasons: (1) there is a GT center in that area of the county and (2) to make that particular school look a little bit better.

How much more challenging are the GT centers, really? Most really smart kids will be able to educate themselves if given a library card and a free rein.

[Anonymous]

What are chip-eaters???

[Anonymous]

How much more challenging are the GT centers, really? Most really smart kids will be able to educate themselves if given a library card and a free rein.

Do you have children in a Center? It's a lot more challenging. I don't disagree that smart kids will do well just about anywhere, but the Centers offer a lot. The entire curriculum is accelerated and the peer group is a hugely important factor for most of these kids.